


Welcome to the family

by Lepht03



Series: Family life [2]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Angst, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Drug Abuse, Family, Fluff, Foster Care, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kimi is a foster parent, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:35:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24321397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lepht03/pseuds/Lepht03
Summary: Life happens, even if you don't plan it.Kimi never planned this, but he's happy how it turned out.Or: Kimi becomes a foster parent. Chaos ensures.
Series: Family life [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773367
Comments: 12
Kudos: 109





	1. It never goes to plan

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Welcome to this work!  
> If anything that might trigger anyone I will warn people at the beginning of the chapter. If anything is triggering, don't read, I don't want to cause anything bad.  
> Now please enjoy.

He never knew what he wanted to do with his life when he was younger. He never could have guessed how his life would turn out either.

Kimi’s younger self would’ve guessed that he would be stuck in some office, with a boring job and then living alone. That was always the plan.

But then, you can’t always plan out your life. Or at least, Kimi couldn’t.

He looked over to his bedside. His alarm clock told him the time was half past seven. That meant he had right about 30 minutes before chaos ensured. Or if he was unlucky, chaos had already begun. He couldn’t really hear anything and assumed he was the first one up.

He always liked being alone and quiet, which was why he always got up before everyone else, so he could have a few minutes for himself.

He started to think about when this all of this had begun he had just graduated and gotten a job when one of his new colleagues walked in and changed his life in an instant.

“It’s so sad. My wife works with foster children and it’s really hard to find homes for some of them” one of his colleagues had said.

Kimi hadn’t really listened at the conversation. Sure, it was sad, but nothing that would affect him.

That was until his colleague had shown him a picture of one of the kids in need of a home. Kimi had taken a quick look at the photograph and something deep within him made him part of this conversation.

“That’s Sebastian. Many foster parents think he is to old. Soon he will be sent to a boarding school if someone don’t take him”

Kimi looked at Sebastian in the picture. The kid smiled in the picture, but something told Kimi he wasn’t truly happy. Kimi couldn’t explain it, but it felt like he was the one who was supposed to take care of the boy in the picture. He stared at it for a long time, thinking about it.

“You look deep in thought Kimi” his colleague had said, dragging Kimi back to reality. “Should I tell my wife that you’re interested in foster care?”

He had said it with a smile, which made Kimi uncomfortable. He didn’t want to deal with foster care, but he felt like he was the one who was supposed to.

“I don’t want to do foster care” he had said. It was kind of true. But his colleague had smiled even wider.

“I will tell my wife. Don’t worry. You can always change your mind”

Kimi almost changed his mind too many times. It was so much to do to get qualified for foster care. Strict visits from the social services and interviews of how he would manage with kids in the house.

It made him wonder how so many people can get qualified and then treat the kid like garbage. His colleagues wife had told him about a lot of those cases.

Maybe that was the thing that made him go through with it. Stories like those made his blood boil. How someone could hurt a defenseless kid was beyond him. But now he was in the process to make a change for those kids, and he was not a quitter.

Then he was finally done with all preparations. He had spent a lot of money on making his house ready for a kid, and getting through a lot of paperwork.

But surprisingly, Kimi felt like he was ready, like this was the meaning of his life. He had talked with Fernando about it, who had been constantly shocked during the whole process.

“I never would’ve guessed that you, of all people, would get a kid” Fernando told him the day before Sebastian would get placed in his home.

“I know. I don’t know if it’s going to last to be honest” Kimi answered him.

“You also said you would never have a kid and here we are”

Kimi thought about that for a second. It seemed like life was doing the opposite of what he was saying. But maybe life had a bigger plan for him. And this was only the beginning.

The day then came and Sebastian arrived. It had taken a few hours for the social worker to go through the paperwork but then he was left alone with Sebastian.

Kimi was prepared for all of this to down the drain. He was prepared for this to be a total nightmare.

What he hadn’t prepared for was for this to go as well as it had. Sure, the first days had been really awkward. Sebastian was really tense and didn’t really talk much. But then after a few days he started to speak a few more words each day. And eventually they had gotten to know each other quite good.

Kimi learned that Sebastian was really funny and smart, but also liked silence sometimes. Kimi had also opened up to him about things and how glad he was that he went through with all the hellish preparations.

And for about a year it was only the two of them living in the big house and Kimi was truly happy with his life. He never knew one 12 year old could make someone’s life so much better. Then one day Sebastian had asked him a question.

“Are you going to take in more kids?”

The question didn’t really schock Kimi. He had a strong feeling Sebastian wanted to ask him something the past few days. But Kimi had actually been thinking about taking in more kids, but he didn’t want to mess up the great life he had with Sebastian. It didn’t really matter though. The only thing that would make him do it relied on one question.

“Do you want me to?”

Kimi kind of knew Sebastian's answer already. He knew his kid, he could read Sebastian’s eyes like an open book.

“I guess it could be nice with some more people here” Sebastian had quietly answered.

Kimi smiled and gave Sebastian a hug, which made him ease up a little bit.

“Then I guess I’m going to make a phone call”

To say the least, that changed things quite a lot. He was a fool for ever thinking anything else.


	2. A new life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This chapter isn't eventful at all, but the real story is takin shape in the next few chapters. Now enjoy!

The plan had been to take in one or two more kids. And so Lewis and Valtteri come to the house. They had been Sebastian’s age and they all connected really fast.

Kimi also learned Valtteri had been raised with Finnish as well, so they could speak Finnish with each other when they wanted to.

Kimi was happy with the new additions to the family. Sure, everything got a little bit louder but to see his kids have that sibling bond made him smile at night.

Then he got a phone call from the social services to see if he could take in Kevin and Nico for one night. One night turned out to become forever. The moment they stepped their feet into the house Kimi knew they were supposed to stay.

Actually, that was the case for the most of the kids over the years. They were only supposed to stay there for a short time, but connected with everyone else right away and ended up staying right where they were supposed to be.

Kimi was always shocked when the kids ended up staying, because it was never the plan. But he had learned that the plan never worked anyway.

However it was a big change when one more kid joined the family. Every kid had a past, some of them worse than others. And sometimes the trauma was hard for them to deal with.

But Kimi didn’t care. They were his kids. He was not giving up on them because of other people’s mistakes.

To his own surprise he had ended up actually adopting a few of the kids. And his mind was set on adopting the whole bunch, but that took a lot of time. The court might not let him adopt all of them either, but that was something he didn’t like to think about.

He thought about it and realized he now had 12 kids in the house. He couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t sure he ever wanted kids and here he is with 12 of them.

Kimi got up out of bed and made his way towards the kitchen, so he could have a cup of coffee before everyone else woke up.

Normally he would wake the kids up for school. But today was a Sunday, so he let the kids sleep in.

He had been alone for about 5 minutes before he heard someone make their way downstairs. Kimi was a bit relieved to see it was Kevin.

He loved all of his kids, but sometimes it was nice to be alone, something that Kevin often agreed with.

“Hi” Kevin quietly said before he made his way to the living room.

Kimi really understood why Kevin was up early to be alone. In this house it was almost too hard to get some alone time.

It hadn’t helped with their latest additions to the family. Alex, George and Lando had come together, and after a few weeks after their arrival, the house hasn’t been quiet since.

Kimi knew a few of the older kids (especially Kevin) were annoyed when they younger kids in the house made a lot of noise. But he also knew that they would protect the younger ones from any harm in the world, regardless of how annoying they could be.

That was they beauty of their family. Sure, they could sometimes get on each others nerves, but they would always protect each other.

After a longer time then he anticipated people started to come down to the kitchen. A few of them started making breakfast and talking.

“So, what are you guys planning to do today?” Kimi asked, looking at his boys.

“Nico needs help with German” Sebastian said and Nico nodded.

“And we are going to do a workout, right?” Daniel said looking at Alex, George and Lando.

The young boys got really excited and started to talk about something. They were talking so fast that Kimi often missed what was said. But he liked the idea of releasing some of that energy.

The boys continued to reveal their plans for the day. Because everyone seemed to have something to do, Kimi decided he would do some work. It didn’t seem like the boys needed him much today anyway.

Before he went to his office he took a quick tour to see what everyone was doing. Daniel had convinced Max and Charles to join the workout, the oldest kids had went to study and Daniil and Kevin was currently watching TV.

He went inside his office, closing the door slightly. He didn't close it completely in case someone needed him. That was something he quickly had learned. If his office door was closed and he was focused on his work, he would easily miss if something would happen.

He thought back to the time when Nico had hit his head on a door frame and it had taken Kimi 30 minutes to realize the panic outside. The whole incident had reminded some of the kids of bad times, which was why no one had dared to tell him.

He was still ashamed of that. Sure, Nico had only been slightly knocked out but his kids needed him and he wasn’t there. Now he would always be. No matter what was trying to stop him.


	3. Just another night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Referenced drug abuse

Daniel couldn't sleep. He should've be able to. They had been working out the majority of the day, so he was tired.

But he just couldn't. He decided to go downstairs to drink some water when he heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone was whimpering.

He looked inside Charles and Max's room, but both of them were fast asleep.

Daniel then made his way towards the youngest's room. The whimpering became louder and he could also hear quiet whispers. He walked into the room to see George clearly having a nightmare. Alex was standing next to him, shaking him and whispering in his ear.

"Please George, wake up" Alex said and looked up at Daniel with tears in his eyes.

Daniel took a quick look at Lando, making sure he was asleep in his bed before he sprinted into action. He scooped up George in his arms, took Alex's hand and quickly walked down to the living room.

He didn't walk to his room since he didn't want to wake up Daniil, who he shared a room with. He knew Daniil wouldn't mind at all in this situation, but it still didn't feel right.

He sat down on the couch, cradling George to his chest.

"Come on George, wake up, you're safe, it's okay"

Daniel kept repeating that until George flinched awake. He looked confused for a few seconds before he started crying.

He pressed the boy close to his chest. Then he put his other arm around Alex, making sure he was also okay.

"It's okay George. Only a nightmare. Nothing real" Daniel said, trying to calm down the two boys. Maybe he should wake up his dad. Then again, right now he had this under control.

"Yes it was" George then said. It was so quiet that Daniel asked him to repeat it.

"It was real. They always are"

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Daniel asked. He knew a bit about George's past. But he didn't know he had nightmares about it. He didn't know how many he had experienced either.

"She wouldn't stop shaking. I asked her to, but..."

George couldn't finish the sentence and went back to crying and Daniel held both George and Alex in his arms until they all fell asleep.

He woke up again when his dad was shaking his shoulder gently.

"Morning. Did something happen last night?" Kimi asked.

Daniel told him about George's nightmare and his explanation.

"It was his mother, right?" Daniel whispered. He didn't want George to hear something that would trigger another nightmare. His dad got the hint and continued whispering.

"Yeah, his mother overdosed right in front of him. He had to call out for the neighbors. She barely made it out alive. Then he was put in another home without any counseling"

Daniel was shocked. He never knew the thing about George's mother. He couldn't imagine how that would've felt.

“You know you can wake me up if something like this happens, right?” Kimi asked him.

“Yes, I know that. I guess I should have”

“It looks like you did a good job. I just want you to know you don’t have to”

Daniel nodded. He knew that he didn’t have to deal with this by himself. His dad would always help them with this kind of stuff. Actually, Daniel thought his dad would prefer to, so the rest of them didn’t have to.

He realized George and Alex had woken up and was now on their way to get ready for the day.

Daniel took a deep breath before he got up and took a shower. He was a little shaky after the nights events. Maybe he should've asked his dad for help. But he guessed everything was fine.

But he couldn't do anything about that now. He had handled the situation fairly well. Now he just had to get ready for school.

The school day had been really boring. Usually he would make some joke to make it better, but he was not in the mood to get yelled at by some teacher without any humor. Not after the night he had. He guessed he could be a good student for one day.

But his day only got worse when he got back home. When he walked into the kitchen he saw his dad, looking really tense. That made Daniel worry. His dad was always calm, no matter what.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I got a call" Kimi said. He took a small moment before he continued. "I got a call from the social office"

Now Daniel started to tense up as well. Usually a call from the social services ment taking another kid in. But his dad had told them that he wouldn't take in more kids, so this call had to do something about one of them.

"What's going on?" they heard Lewis ask. Daniel hadn't heard him arrive home. When he looked behind him he saw that Sebastian was with him too.

Kimi repeated that he got a call from the social services. When Daniel felt Lewis and Sebastian getting nervous too, he just hoped they had misunderstood what their dad meant.

They probably didn’t, but he could always hope.

“They have been in contact with a few of the parents” Kimi continued. “It looks like some kids might have to go back”

"What?" Daniel said. He must have heard it wrong. It couldn't be true.

"Nobody knows for sure, but they said it was possible for two of my kids to go back to their biological parents"

Daniel knew right away who the two kids were. Everyone knew. It was simple math.

Half of them were already adopted. Alex and Kevin's parents were in jail. Charles's were dead and Lando grew up in foster care.

Two were left. Max and George.

“No” Sebastian said. “They can’t do that. They were taken away for a reason”

Kimi stayed silent.

“There is nothing you can do about it, right?” Lewis asked, his voice was filled with sad realization. Daniel hoped Lewis was wrong. There had to be something they could do.

“I really wished I could” Kimi then said. “But I can’t”


	4. A painful farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mansions of physical child abuse and drug addiction

This was bad. Even though it was possible for Max and George to stay with them, it was really unlikely.

Because the social services had called them it was already under investigation. And Sebastian had a bad feeling it was going to happen.

He was scared. They were his little brothers. Sebastian wanted to protect them from their past and now they were supposed to go right back to it.

He wondered how everyone else would take the news. Especially Max and George. Sebastian knew George's parents were drug addicts, and he could still picture the bruises Max had all over him when he arrived.

A few days passed, but Sebastian could still feel the tension in the house. Alex, George and Lando didn't seem to notice it, but everyone else did.

Sebastian didn't know if he wanted his dad to say something about it. It might not be good news.

One evening everyone was in the living room watching TV when their dad came in and turned it off.

Everyone was a bit shocked at the drastic move, but Sebastian prepared himself for bad news.

"I have something to tell you" Kimi said seriously. "Social services have decided that Max and George are returning to their biological families"

Sebastian had expected it, but he was still shocked. He was kind of happy that he already had a clue about the situation. Otherwise it would have been to much to handle.

"No" Valtteri said. "They can't do that"

Everyone in the room seemed to agree with Valtteri's statement. They belonged here. Not with people that would harm them.

"It was not my decision" their dad had continued. "I will try, but I can't affect the decision. It has already been made"

There was a long silence before everyone reacted. Daniil quickly got up and left the room.

Sebastian wanted to go after him but decided not to. If he knew Daniil it was probably best to leave him alone right now.

"When?" Lewis asked, breaking the silence.

That question made everyone tense. Sebastian hoped it would be long. Long enough for the social services to change their minds.

"Three days"

That was way less then Sebastian had anticipated. He believed they would have three weeks, not three days.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to come to terms with the new information. He didn't want to, but he had to.

Time moved to quickly, and before they knew it, only one day was left. Everyone tried to support each other, but it was hard to.

Max hadn’t taken the news well. Sebastian didn’t blame him for that. Max’s father should be in jail, but somehow he managed to fake the evidence. The thing that really worried Sebastian was why Max’s father wanted him back, and how he was going to treat him.

He couldn’t think about that. He wanted his brothers to be right here, not multiple towns away.

And the had gotten orders not to visit them either. That had been a slap in the face. According to the social office it will be bad for Max and George if they could see all of them.

When his dad had told them that, he wanted to scream and break something.

He wondered how this would change their family. In the past they had other kids who didn’t stay long. But this was different. Max and George were supposed to stay here, be a part of the family.

Sebastian was worried for all of his brothers though. Obviously for Max and George, but Kevin had been acting weirder than usual, Charles hasn’t spoken for two days and Daniil was outside running for most of the day.

But no one could stop it, and sooner than anyone of then wanted to, it was time to say goodbye.

George, Alex and Lando all hugged, it looked like no one wanted to let go. Their dad pulled Max into hug as well.

“If anything happens, you need to call me, okay?” he had said and Max nodded. It was subtle, but Sebastian could hear that his dad was close to crying.

And then, in a few minutes they were gone. It was quiet for a few minutes, but then Lewis spoke up.

“What are we going to do?” he asked. He probably didn’t expect an answer, but Sebastian knew the question had to come up anyway.

“What can we do?” Sebastian answered. Even if their ideas right now sucked, it would be okay, the needed some kind of hope.

“If someone had done their job right from the beginning we wouldn’t have to do anything” Kevin said angrily, staring at their dad when he said someone.

“What do you mean?” Their dad asked.

“You know, don’t even try to deny it” Kevin said and then walked up to his room. Nico was quick to follow, a mixture of fear, confusion and quriosity on his face.

Sebastian was also confused, but then he decided that now was not the time to let that get to him. Right now he needed to make sure his brothers were okay.

They obviously weren’t, but as okay that they could be right now.

Charles had run up to his room a few minutes after Kevin. Sebastian decided to check up on him. Usually Max would be there but now Max’s side of the room was empty.

When he walked past Kevin and Nico’s room he could hear Kevin talking loudly. He wondered what Kevin had ment, but he could ask him about it later. He went towards Charles’s room, knocking quietly on the door before entering.

Sebastian saw Charles sitting on Max’s now empty bed and when he saw Sebastian he started crying. He had most likely held everything in until Max and George left.

He sat down next to Charles, giving him a comforting hug. Charles continued crying, and for the rest of the day, that’s where they were.

Sebastian hoped they could get them both back soon. It wasn’t the same without them.


	5. The past or the future?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Child abuse, mentions of drug abuse and child neglect

Max was scared. For once in his life he had felt safe. He hadn’t been scared in so long. But one minute with his father and he felt all the fear again.

He wanted to go home. Not with his father, but to his dad. His real family. The ones who kept him safe no matter what.

Max had taken time. It took exactly two hours and 42 minutes for his father to return to his old behaviour.

Max wasn’t even surprised. His father was extremely manipulative. Only Max knew the extent of his father’s behaviour.

He probably didn’t even try to convince the social services he was a changed man, lies came naturally to him.

Sometimes Max wondered if his father was capable of telling the truth, or if he just enjoyed hurting his own son and then lying about it.

Which maybe explained why Max now laid on the bed in his room with a lot of bruises, and his father asleep in the next room.

His dad had told him to call if anything happened. Max wanted to do nothing more, but he didn’t have a phone. His father would never let him have a phone. He guessed he could borrow a phone from the school, but would the social services believe him?

Probably not, they never did. His father had made them believe that Max was the problem, getting into fights and blaming it on his father.

His father could lie his way out of the blame for the bruises on Max’s body. But no one could see the bruises in his head. He could deal with the physical bruises, actually he kind of preferred them. Then it was a higher chance for someone to notice.

But the mental abuse was harder to deal with. Max told himself that his father was lying, and it kind of worked. But the words still got to him, all the bad words.

Max guessed he was going to have to live with this for a while, until he could find someone to believe him.

That could take some time.

The next morning he woke up and sighed because the whole thing hadn't been a nightmare. He had kind of hoped it would have been. Sometimes people could feel that they were inside a nightmare. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

Surprisingly, the weirdest thing about all of this was to wake up alone. Usually he and Charles would talk when they woke up. If anyone of them had a bad dream, the other would listen and make sure they were okay.

That made them closer. Sure, they could sometimes fight and be rivals. But that was what brothers did. They fought, got over it and went back to normal. That was what made them so close.

Max was only a few weeks older than Charles, so they were in the same grade and often hung out a lot at school too. And now everything changed, not to anything better. Now he had to change school, as his father lived far away from his family.

However, the thing that worried him the most was George. He knew the young boy had been terrified when he had to leave the house. He had been to, but he was older than George and knew better how to handle it.

Max just hoped George’s parents weren't physical with him. He knew how much that could mess someone up.

Then Max heard his father slam the front door shut, which gave him the strength to get up, even though his body hurted.

He just wondered how long it would take before he could go back home.

…

Kids were taken away from their parents so that they could be safe. That was what George’s social worker had said when he was removed from his home the first time.

Now that confused him. If he was safe with his new family, why would he have to go back?

He didn’t want that, nobody wanted that. He was pretty sure his parents didn’t want him back either.

They had told him they had stopped taking drugs, and they were never going to start again.

George didn’t believe that for one second. Just because he was young didn’t mean he would believe their lies. He would only be disappointed.

But things didn’t exactly turn out as he had thought. He never saw them doing drugs, because he never saw them.

It wasn’t unusual for them to be gone a lot when he was living with them before. But they would always be at home in the morning. Now it could be days before he even saw them.

The only time he really hung out with them was when the social services made sure he was okay. He wondered how they could miss that he wasn’t. To him it was obvious.

The thing that scared him was that the social lady said it all looked well, but that she would be back soon to ask George some questions about how it actually was.

He already knew what he wanted to say. Ask her to take him back to his family. He didn’t like it here. He was all alone, his parents didn’t take him to school.

They had told the lady that he would be homeschooled, but George hadn’t done any schoolwork since arriving.

When the night arrived he couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t slept good since arriving. He always found himself wondering what everyone did back home.

Was it still normal? Was Max with them or his father? Did they even miss him?

The last thought made his eyes tear up, but he wasn’t going to cry. The last time he had cried was when he had his nightmare and Daniel helt him all night long, to make him feel safe.

That memory made George make a promise to himself. He would only cry when he felt safe again.

But there was a problem if he was going to keep that promise. He would never be able to cry again.


	6. Is that everything?

It had been one week since Max and George were taken away from them. And no one had told them if they were okay or if their parents had gone back to old behaviour.

That what the biggest thing that bothered Lewis the most. Their family was broken. And no one could do anything about it.

Unless they could somehow convince the social services that Max and George didn't belong with their birth families.

But what if the social services didn’t believe them? They always seemed to think that kids were safest with their birth families, which was not true.

Everyone in this family was safest in this house. Anywhere else and they wouldn’t be as safe. And in some cases, not safe at all.

His dad told them that he was working on getting them back as soon as possible. That he was not giving up on them.

When his dad had told them that, Lewis noticed that Kevin was looking furious.

That was when he remembered Kevin's comment the day Max and George left. What had he meant by that? What had their dad done?

That evening Lewis decided to ask Kevin about it. He wasn't really expecting an answer, but if there was the slightest chance, he would try.

He went upstairs and knocked on Kevin's and Nico's door. Lewis had made sure he saw Nico downstairs. He needed to talk to Kevin alone.

He wanted to know multiple things. What he had ment, how he had found out and why he hasn’t told anyone.

Lewis didn’t know, maybe he had told someone. Probably not, but maybe. Kevin could sometimes be really unpredictable in difficult situations. And if this wasn’t a difficult situation, what was?

After a few seconds after knocking he could hear Kevin telling him to come in.

"What do you want?" Kevin asked, looking irritated.

"Why would Max and George still be here if dad did his job from the beginning?" Lewis said. He knew his brother quite well. If you wanted answers, small talk was out of the question.

Kevin sighed and turned off his phone, looking Lewis in the eyes.

"Trust me, you don't want to know"

"Yes I do want to know. Dad was close to crying when they left. And you are not making things easier for him"

That was true. Kevin had been really distant towards their dad the past week, and Lewis was sick of it. It affected the whole family. Everyone seemed tense when the two of them were together.

But Kevin didn't seem to appreciate Lewis's lecture. He stood up, which made Lewis realize how serious Kevin actually was.

"If you knew what I know, you would be yelling at dad instead of me. I won't be doing that because of the family. But if he doesn't get them home soon, I will"

Kevin sat down and started his phone again, ignoring that Lewis was still standing in his room.

Lewis stood there for a minute. But when he realized Kevin wasn’t going to say anything he slowly exited the room and saw Valtteri and Sebastian standing outside.

Valtteri grabbed his arm and dragged him to their room. Sebastian closed the door behind them.

"You talked to Kevin?" Sebastian asked.

Lewis realized that Sebastian and Valtteri had been thinking the same thing as him. That was good. Maybe then they would be able to figure something out together.

Lewis told them what Kevin had said, and they were all shocked.

"Is there a possibility that Kevin is lying?" Valtteri asked.

"No. He looks genuinely angry when he is talking to dad. But I do think he might have told someone" Sebastian said.

"What? Who?" Lewis asked. This was starting to get even more confusing. What was going on?

"Have you noticed that Daniil’s been acting weird lately?"

Lewis thought about it. Daniil was quieter than usual and often looked uncomfortable when he was with the rest of the family.

"That doesn't mean anything" Valtteri said. "Everyone is struggling and he is preparing for that running thing"

That made sense. Daniil had been working really hard to be on the schools running team. And a month before the biggest competition of the year, his family was falling apart.

"That's not everything" Sebastian continued. "I saw him exiting dad's office yesterday. I asked him what he was doing and he looked I had just busted him on something"

Lewis raised an eyebrow. that was weird. What could he want from dad’s office? Lewis couldn’t think of anything that could explain why Daniil was there. Nothing interesting for them was in there.

“So what do we do?” Lewis asked after a few minutes. “Something is going on, even if they aren’t cooperating”

The others seemed to agree with him, but it was hard to find an answer to his question.

“We can’t really do anything. We don’t even know what they are doing” Valtteri said. “I guess the only thing we can do is to keep an eye on them, see if they are doing anything weird”

They all agreed on that. But Lewis still wanted answers. It bothered him not to know things, especially if their dad has done something bad.

But Lewis knew Kevin wouldn’t tell them anything more, so they had to wait for him to talk. Which will probably not happen anytime soon. Kevin wasn’t the most talkative person in the house.

After a few minutes in silence, Sebastian left the room. They were done with this conversation.

Lewis laid down on his bed. That was a lot of information to take in. It had created more questions and none of them had been answered.

He didn’t think Kevin cooperated with Daniil. Somehow he would’ve preferred if they did. Then they only would have one mystery to solve, now it was two.

He just hoped that neither Kevin or Daniil would do anything stupid. But he had a strange feeling that something would happen. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad yet.


	7. Part of the plan

He thought he had been busted. Sebastian had seen him and asked what he was doing.

But over a week had past and no one had asked him about it. He was still waiting for it to happen though.

Daniil was a bit ashamed about all of this. It wasn't really the best time to hide stuff.

His dad and his brothers were on to him though. One evening he could hear his oldest brothers talk to his dad.

"Daniil has been acting very unlike himself. I'm worried about him" he could hear Sebastian say.

It took some time for his dad to answer. Daniil couldn’t hear his dad’s answer, he was too far away.

If they decided to investigate him, he would be busted and most likely grounded.

The thought alone made him tense. If his family knew about his plan they would try to stop him, and he couldn't let that happen.

"Could he be grieving and be nervous for the competition?" Valtteri said.

Daniil thanked Valtteri in his head. If they confronted him, he would tell them that.

It wouldn't be completely untrue either. He wasn't happy when all of his brothers weren't in the house, and he was nervous about the competition.

Maybe for other reasons then they believed, but they didn't need to know that right now.

Daniil decided that he had heard enough of the conversation and went to his room. He sat down on his bed and took out his notepad.

Written in the notepad was the biggest part of the plan. Only a few words, but if he lost them, the whole plan was done. Daniil had kept the notepad hidden in a backpack under his bed.

He had started a countdown. Now it was 16 days left, and the plan was already complete. Now he only had to wait so he could start the plan. Hopefully he didn’t have to do this, but he was prepared to take the risk.

Before he knew it, two weeks had past and he was going away. The plan was officially in operation. All he needed now was for things to go his way.

“Good luck torpedo, go crush them” Sebastian said before he left.

They both smiled at the nickname. Sebastian first said it when Daniil had ran past him while going down the stairs, almost making Sebastian fall down.

Then he had said it in anger, but know it was a inside joke between them before Daniil entered a race. It always made Daniil feel better when he was nervous.

He made sure he had the notepad with him, otherwise his plan was screwed.

The competition was going on for four days. During three days they had competitions and one day was free.

“Are you okay? I know things has been difficult for you” Mr Horner had asked him when they arrived at the competition.

“Nothing’s gonna stop me” Daniil had answered quietly.

Mr Horner smiled at him, but he could feel that Mr Marko was furious at him. Daniil wasn’t surprised by that.

Mr Marko hated him, or at least hated him for being on the team. He had told Daniil that he wasn’t going to make it, that he was only here because Mr Horner felt sorry for him.

Those words used to hurt, but Mr Horner had told him not to care about it and that he was glad to have Daniil on the team.

The first day went by faster than it had begun and then it was time for their day off.

“Okay guys, some rules” Mr Horner said. “First off, stay close to here. Second, always have your phone on in case we need to call you”

Everyone agreed and went their separate ways. A few of the others on the team had asked him if he wanted to join them. But Daniil had turned it down.

He had other plans.

He grabbed his backpack and went outside. He hoped nobody would see him, since he now was breaking the rules.

He had been walking for 30 minutes before he realized he had no idea where his destination was.

He looked around him and saw an old lady walking down the street.

“Excuse me” he said, getting her attention. “Could you please tell where this place is?” he asked, showing her the address written in the notepad.

The old lady took her time reading the address and then frowned.

“That is on dangerous streets for a young boy like you. How old are you? Why are you going there?”

He thought about what he could say that didn’t make him sound like a criminal.

“I’m almost 15” he began. “A letter got sent to my house by mistake, I want to give it to the right person”

He knew that was the worst excuse ever, but the old lady smiled at him and then gave him the directions.

“Then I will wish you good luck. Have a good day”

Daniil thanked her and continued to walk when he felt his phone starting to vibrate in his pocket. He looked at it and saw that he had a lot of missed calls by Mr Horner and Mr Marko.

That was not good. He must've been deeper in thought then he was aware of. He took a deep breath before answering.

“Where the hell are you?” Mr Horner all but screamed into the phone.

Daniil didn’t know what to say. But Mr Marko took the phone from Mr Horner and screamed at him.

“If you’re not here within five minutes we’re calling your father and you are going home!”

The call ended and Daniil sat down on the sidewalk. There was no way he would make it back in five minutes.

Then he made the decision to keep going. He stood up, turned off his phone and continued walking.

He soon stood outside an apartment building with the right address. He ran up the stairs and stopped when he saw one of the doors.

That was it. That was part one of the plan. He just hoped nothing bad would happen with the start of part two.


	8. Keep me safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Referenced drug abuse and Child neglect

Everyone seemed to lie to him. Everything he had been told lately was a big lie.

His parents had said they wanted him back, the social lady said she would check up on him and his dad told him he would always keep him safe.

His parents didn't care about him. Neither did the lady from the social services.

George hoped his dad still cared about him, but he wasn't sure anymore. It seemed like no one did.

His parents were rarely home, and when they were they didn't even notice him. They went back out as soon as they could.

George was pretty sure they were doing drugs again, he recognized their weird behavior. They always acted strange when they were high or wanted to get high.

But no one would believe him if he told someone because there were no drugs in the apartment.

Another thing that started to worry him was food. The shirt he had worn when he left home was now way to big for him. He hadn’t realized it before, but not eating like he used to had bad effects on him.

He used to be hungry, but now his stomach only hurted.

That was another reason on the long list why he wanted to go home.

Because here he was all alone, he was always tired and he wanted food.

Many nights he couldn't sleep because of the pain in his stomach. The fact that he was scared all night long didn't help.

But then after many days there was someone knocking on the door. At first it had scared him, but then he wondered if he should open it.

Back at home his dad told them not to open the door if someone knocked. They were supposed to get the oldest person in the house.

But since he was alone he was the oldest person there, so he went to open the door.

When he opened the door he was confused, happy and relieved to see Daniil sanding outside.

Daniil dropped to his knees and pulled George into a hug. It felt really good to have someone hug him. He hadn't been hugged since he left home, to long ago.

"I'm so sorry" Daniil said, hugging him harder. "I'm so sorry I haven't visited you earlier"

"Why didn't you?" George asked. He knew they weren't allowed to, but Daniil was here now. Why wasn't he here earlier?

"Dad won't let us. He wants to. But if he does it will be harder for him to get you guys back"

"He doesn't know you are here?" he asked. That was unexpected. They all had respect for their dad. If he told them not to do something, they would listen, most of the times.

"No" Daniil said. "I am in town for the running competition. I looked up the address on dad's computer"

George was a little shocked because of how many rules Daniil must have broken to get here.

But a part of him smiled that Daniil was prepared to do that for him.

George told Daniil about everything. About how he was alone most of the time, that he believed his parents were doing drugs again, the lack of food and the fact that he had forgotten the last time he took a shower.

Daniil had written everything down in his notepad, probably to remember everything.

When he put the paper down he had tears in his eyes.

"I think we should call dad" he said.

George really wanted to talk to his dad. Ask him to take him home. But what if there was a reason he hadn’t seen anyone of them.

“Does he miss me at all?” George asked. He was a little nervous of the answer. But Daniil pulled him back in another hug.

“Of course he misses you. Nothing has been the same since you left. We all need you guys back. Both you and Max. Always remember that”

That made George feel better. His family actually cared that he wasn’t there. He realized that Daniil had started his phone and George heard him swear under his breath.

"What?" George asked him. Daniil let out a quick laugh, but George could see the slight worry in his eyes.

"I have a lot of missed calls. Dad must think I have run away or something. I must say it really looks like I have" he mumbled the last part before pressing the call button.

He made the phone have the speaker on and then he put George in his lap.

It didn't take long for their dad to answer.

"Daniil where are you? Mr Horner called and said you took of a long time ago. Where are you?"

It scared George that his dad sounded so worried. But Daniil put an arm around him, making him feel better.

"I…" Daniil's words got stuck. George guessed he didn't know how to tell them. It was a pretty big bomb to drop that he broke multiple rules to secretly go and visit their little brother.

"Are you safe? Where did you go?"

Daniil took a deep breath and tried again.

"I'm with George" he said, pulling George closer to him.

It took a long time before anything happened on the other line. It was completely quiet.

"This is not funny Daniil. You know what everyone is going through. You have taken this to far" Lewis said. Their dad must have the speaker on too.

"I'm not joking. I looked up the address on dad's computer. It was only one hour away from the competition"

Lewis started to say something but their dad stopped him. It took a while before their dad eventually spoke.

"George?" he asked.

He didn’t know what to say. He had been looking forward to the day he could talk to his dad for way to long. Daniil smiled and nodded at him, showing that it was okay for him to speak to his dad when he hesitated a bit.

“Yes” George then said.


	9. Tell us what's happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Referenced drug abuse and child neglect

His life had been turned upside down. But he had hope that it was about to change.

He was still working hard on getting George and Max back, and he was making some progress.

The social services had decided to investigate Max’s case. His new school had been worried about him, saying they saw some signs that something was wrong.

Kimi was scared for Max, if he was safe or not. But he was also happy that the social services had decided to do something about it. Maybe they could fix their mistake.

The next day, he was sitting in the living room with all of the kids. He was glad every kid in the house was together, but he was painfully aware of the missing pieces.

They had been playing some video games together, reading or studying when Kimi’s phone started to ring.

He looked at it and saw that it was Daniil’s running coach. Kimi was now on edge. Had something happened? He decided not to jump to any conclusions and answered the call.

“Daniil’s gone. He’s not answering our calls” Mr Horner told him.

“What?” Kimi almost shouted, getting the attention of all the kids in the room.

“Someone on the team saw him leave and when we got a hold on him he didn’t say anything”

“Are you looking for him?”

Kimi could see the older kids share a look and told Alex, Lando and Charles to go upstairs.

Charles looked like he wanted to stay, to know what was going on. But when Sebastian asked him again he left the room with a frown on his face.

“Yes I’m looking for him. But you should probably try to contact him. Please call me if he answers you” Mr Horner said and then hung up the phone.

Kimi didn’t waste any time and tried to call Daniil, but he was sent right to voicemail. He left a message, telling Daniil to call him.

“What is going on?” Nico asked. Kimi sighed before telling them that Daniil was now missing.

No one said anything. They were scared and confused. Kevin had tried to call Daniil from his phone, but he too was sent to voicemail.

Kimi was trying not to show the fact that he was freaking out. Daniil was missing and no one could make contact with him.

Half an hour went by and Kimi had tried to call Daniil multiple times. He was almost about to call the police when Daniil called him.

Valtteri told him to put the call on speaker.

Kimi asked Daniil where he was. When Daniil didn’t answer Kimi got worried. What Daniil had said next made his heart stop for a second.

“I’m with George”

Kimi couldn’t say anything. He didn’t even know if he should’ve been angry or thankful that Daniil had gone to see George.

Lewis had yelled at Daniil for joking, but Kimi stopped him before he could continue.

“George?” he asked. He had a feeling that Daniil was telling the truth.

“Yes” he could hear George say after few seconds.

Everyone in the room was shocked. That was not where they had expected Daniil to be.

"Daniil, put on a video link" Kimi said. He needed to see George. It had been way too long.

When the video link was on he was shocked to see how bad George looked. His skin was pale, Kimi could tell he hadn't showered in a long time and he was really skinny.

Even though all he wanted to do was to smash something, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that he could see George for the first time in a month.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Directly after seeing George he could tell that he wasn't, but Kimi couldn't think of a better question.

"I want to come home" George said.

That made him feel like someone had stabbed him in the chest.

"I know baby, I want you to be here too" Kimi said. "Can you just hold on a little bit longer?"

"No he can't" Daniil said, anger clear in his voice. "His parents are never here, they don't feed him and they are probably on drugs again"

Kimi could hear a few of the kids gasp. They hadn't seen George so hearing that was probably a shock for them.

Kimi didn't want the call to end. He just wanted to see and talk to George for a long time.

But there were some things he needed to process and he would prefer if George couldn't see him.

"Daniil, you have to call Mr Horner and tell him where you are. Call me back after that" he then said.

Daniil hung up the phone and Kimi sighed. He had no idea what to do now.

"Are you mad at Daniil?" Lewis asked.

Kimi took some time before he answered.

"Yes and no" he said. "I don't blame him for doing what he did. But it comes with a lot of problems"

"Like what?" Daniel asked.

"Like the fact that he can't stay. And he can't take George with him, I still don't have custody over him"

It was quiet, everyone realizing the problem.

"The social services have started an investigation for Max" Kimi said after some time. "I was hoping they would realize that they were wrong with George too"

Everyone were still quiet. Then Kevin whispered something to Nico.

"Should we let him talk to Alex and Lando?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, they have been worried about him" Kimi said, giving Nico the phone. "Answer when Daniil calls"

Nico grabbed the phone, gave a quick nod to Kevin and then ran upstairs. Kimi took a deep breath. He had no idea what to do.

"Now you wish you could go back in time, right?" Kevin said while staring him down.

"Please Kevin, not now" Kimi said tiredly. He did not want to have this conversation now.

"No, we are doing this now. You asked me to wait until things gets better. I don't know if they will, so we are doing this now."

"What's going on?" Daniel asked. Kevin ignored him, still staring at Kimi.

"I don't know what's worse. What you did or the fact that you haven't told anyone"

"What did he do?" Sebastian said.

Kimi knew they were curious about this situation. Kevin had hinted at it more than once. He just hoped they would take it well. But he wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.

"The social services had suggested a trial for George and Max to see if it was best for them to go back" Kevin said.

"And?"

"Dad told them to cancel the trial. Which made it easier then normal for their parents to take them back"

Kimi felt everyone staring at him. He could tell they were shocked about Kevin’s statement. But he didn’t blame them. He had messed up big times. And now, Max and George was paying the price for it.


	10. A pice of quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Panic attacks, verbal and physical child abuse.
> 
> If you want to contact me about anything, my tumblr username is: lepht03

His life used to suck. He barely felt like he was existing, he just living on earth.

Then he had been taken away from his father and was sent to live with his new family.

And then, he was sent back to the man who made his life a living hell.

Max tried to hide the bruises. He didn't really know why. It would be amazing to go home, but for some reason he thought it would be better to keep his father happy.

Because that was his life nowadays. Before he did anything he thought about what his father would think.

Max wanted less bruises than necessary.

Then one day at school, one of his teachers had told him that she had called the social services.

When she had told him that he couldn't breathe. His father would kill him when he found out.

Max somehow managed to get out of the classroom and went to a bathroom stall.

He sat down, bringing his knees to his chest. He couldn't breath, his body was shaking.

He tried to make it stop, but it only seemed to make things worse.

What the hell was happening to him? Wait, he knew. This was a panic attack?

He had witnessed Charles having panic attacks many times. But he had no idea how they felt like.

Max tried to take a breath, but only one thing was in his head.

What would his father do to him when he found out? He would kill him.

Actually, he was pretty sure he would die now. Why couldn't he breathe?

The fact that he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment didn't make him calm down.

He thought back to when Sebastian was calming Charles down.

Slow breaths. That was impossible for him. He couldn't breathe.

"Breathe" he whispered to himself. "Please"

Max sat in the stall for what felt like hours. When he finally was able to take a breath it felt amazing. He had never appreciated air like this before.

After that first breath it got easier for him to breath normally. He realized tears were streaming down his face. But he didn’t have the energy to wipe them away.

He was tired. So tired that he threw up on the bathroom floor. He didn't even care anymore.

And that was where Max spent the rest of the day. All alone in that bathroom stall.

When he finally decided to leave he realized his classes had ended 30 minutes ago. Which meant he had missed almost all of his classes.

The school had probably called his father, told him that Max hadn't been to his lessons.

His father would assume he ditched class, which meant more bruises.

Max just hoped his father wouldn't break any of his bones. Honestly it was just a matter of time before he did.

He now understood why Charles always seemed a bit down for the whole day after a panic attack.

Max was exhausted. He didn't know if he would make it back to his father's place without collapsing on the way.

Maybe he would prefer that scenario. Then he wouldn't have to see his father.

But Max decided against the very intriguing decision to sit in that stall forever. He stood up and started his journey away from the school.

He passed a few teachers on the way. Some didn't even notice him. Others looked worried but didn't say anything.

They must’ve noticed him. He had been crying his eyes out. Maybe they just didn’t care about him. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Max felt both angry and sad when he saw adults noticing something wrong and just letting it go.

When he grew up he would never let it go if he thought a child was in danger.

Before he knew it he had opened the door to his father's apartment. The first thing Max noticed was his father’s briefcase.

That meant he was already here.

Max hadn’t fully processed that before he felt a sharp pain on his face.

“You little shit. You are not ditching class” his father said, while continuing to beat him.

Max fell down to the floor after the first punch. Usually he would try to shield himself from his father’s fists. But he was too tired to even try.

He was scared. He always was when his father was beating him. But this time was different. His father didn’t seem to stop.

“You are ruining my reputation. You worthless shit!” he continued to scream at him.

Max started to feel dizzy again, his vision blurring more for each second.

This was the day he died. He never wanted it to end like this. Max wanted to be home, with his family.

If he was he would probably play some game Daniel invented for them, listening to Kevin and Lewis argue about something silly, or just seeing his dad taking care of everyone.

That was where he belonged, where he wanted to be.

But here he was, on the floor, his father beating him like there was no tomorrow and he started to think about the things that he a month ago had really been looking forward to.

His and Charles’s birthdays. They were turning thirteen, a big milestone towards the way to adulthood according to their dad.

After his birthday Max was planning to make fun of Charles for still being a child, even though it would only be so for a few weeks.

Their dad had also been planning for the whole family to go on a vacation together. For the very first time ever.

But then Max thought of all the pictures of them on the wall by the staircase. Each one of them had their own picture. They always changed so that their proudest moment was in one of the frames. Like Daniil's first podium, or the day Lando got the cast of his arm.

Their dad was always so happy when he hung those pictures up.

Those memories made Max feel warm inside, when he slowly closed his eyes, all of his pain disappearing.


	11. We could be better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of cild neglect and child abuse
> 
> My Tumblr username is: lepht03

He thought the kids would be angrier at him. Kevin was still furious at him, the others were angry, but the seemed to know he had no idea of the consequences of cancelling the trial.

“Why did you cancel it?” Lewis asked.

“Because it would’ve been too difficult for them” he said. When he saw the confusion on their faces he continued. “They wanted them to witness, in front of a full courtroom”

He knew that wasn’t a good excuse, but it was true. Kimi knew his kids wouldn’t be able to witness against their parents when they were in the same room.

They were too young to do it. He had told the court to ask them questions alone, but they wouldn’t agree with that.

Kimi had no idea that him cancelling the trial would lead to the kids being taken away from him. If he had known that he would have done things different.

“How are you guys not angry about this?” Kevin shouted at the others.

Kimi knew this was coming. But he kind of agreed with Kevin too. He was really angry at himself for letting this happen. It was the biggest regret of his life.

“It wasn’t like he wanted it to happen” Valtteri said.

“So? That doesn’t matter. Did you hear Daniil? George is not fine and it’s all dad’s fault”

Kimi felt that. He had told himself that it was his fault, but it was another thing to hear it from someone else.

“George is not fine?” he could hear Charles ask.

They all turned and looked at the doorway to see Charles standing there. He should’ve guessed it. Charles always wanted to know what was going on.

“Charles…” Sebastian began, but Charles interrupted him.

“What’s going on?”

“Please” Sebastian tried again.

“No, you don’t tell me anything. No one has said anything to me since they left”

Kimi thought about that. What did he mean? No one knew anything about this situation, so why was Charles so upset?

Then it hit him. Thing had been so hectic for the last month. Kimi spent the most time on the phone, trying to get Max and George back. The oldest kids had been studying hard for exams.

Which meant Charles had mostly been left alone. Alex and Lando had each other and the older kids had many people around the house to talk to.

But Charles was alone. And no one had remembered that.

Kimi already felt bad about everything, but now he felt even worse. How could he miss that his child was alone in a difficult time?

“So now you are neglecting a child in the house? Maybe we all should be taken away from here” Kevin said.

The room became dead silent.

“I know you are angry” Kimi began. “But now you are taking it too far”

He wanted to calm down the situation before Kevin could say anything else. But Kevin was not done.

“Maybe this was your plan. Take in kids, make them feel safe before just sending them away” Kevin shouted. “The adopted ones are lucky I guess. But you should prepare Charles. Things always change for us”

Everything got dead silent again. No one could prepare for that outburst.

Kimi didn’t know what to do. If he tried to talk to Kevin he might say something even worse. But he didn’t like to leave an argument unsolved.

Charles looked pale and was slightly shaking. Then he turned around and ran upstairs. Sebastian was quickly on his feet.

“Nice work Kevin” he said before running after Charles.

Kevin sat down on the couch. He looked as shocked as everyone else in the room. Kimi guessed that outburst wasn’t something he could control.

“I did not want Max and George to leave” Kimi then said. “And I do not want anyone else to do so either” He saw Kevin nod, confirming his theory that Kevin was shocked by his own behavior.

“Now” he continued. “You need to go and apologize to Charles”

Kevin stood up and left the room. When he was gone Kimi sighed.

“What a mess” he whispered to himself.

The rest of the day was tense.

Both Kevin and Charles seemed distant from each other.

Kimi had been talking to Daniil and George. They had all agreed on Daniil coming back home.

That actually meant that Daniil was taking a bus home from the competition, his future on the team unclear.

Kimi couldn’t let some things go. How bad George had looked, Kevin's outburst and the fact that they all had forgotten about Charles.

The last thing really worried him. He went upstairs and found Charles in his room. Kimi sat down next to him.

“I’m sorry” he said. And he really meant that.

“It’s okay” Charles answered.

“No it’s not. No matter what’s going on we should always take care of each other”

Charles still looked like something was bothering him.

“You know Kevin didn’t mean that, right?” Kimi asked, putting an arm around the boy.

“I know” was the quiet answer he got.

The sat like that for a few minutes. But then Kimi’s phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and saw that it was the one of the social workers. Every time they called he hoped they had good news. But he never knew. Sometimes they could call him to tell him his kids were going back to their personal hell.

“Frankie, tell me you have some news” he answered, hoping for good news.

Frankie was one of the best social workers he had ever met during the years. She always wanted the best for the kids and right now she was helping him with getting Max and George back.

“Hi Kimi. I do have some good news” she said. “But I also have bad news”

He asked her to tell him. It was quiet for a few seconds before she answered.

“The police have arrested Max’s father for child abuse” she said and Kimi smiled. But then he remembered she had told him there were bad news.

“The bad news are that he hurt Max bad. He’s in the hospital”


	12. The end has a beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mansions of child abuse
> 
> Hi! This is the beginning of the end! It's not quite over yet though.  
> I was just wondering if this should be a series?  
> If you have any suggestions on what the next fit could be about, feel free to contact me on Tumblr. Mu username is: lepht03  
> Thank you!

Sebastian was both scared and relieved. Max’s father was finally where he deserved, behind bars.

And with all the evidence it would be hard for him to get out, let alone see Max again.

But Sebastian was sacred. Their dad had told them Max was in the hospital because of his father, which made them all nervous.

When their dad had left to go and see Max, he had left Sebastian in charge, since he was the oldest. Lewis, Valtteri and Daniel were also the same age as him. But he was still the oldest.

Usually that didn’t bother Sebastian too much. He liked looking after everyone, it was something he had done since everyone arrived at the house.

But this day was different for many reasons. Everyone knew Max was hurt, the older ones and Charles knew George wasn’t fine. He guessed Alex and Lando also knew that too, but they didn’t say anything about it.

Sebastian could tell that Kevin was feeling bad about what he had said to Charles.

Lewis was really angry at Daniil for going to see George without telling anyone.

And Daniil had been kicked of the running team.

Actually, Daniil hadn’t even mentioned that, but one of Daniel’s friends was helping the team on competitions, and told him about Daniil.

So, yeah. Not the best day to be in charge.

All he wanted to do was to go to his room, lay down and wait for his dad to call and tell them Max was fine.

But he knew he couldn’t do that. He needed to make sure his brothers were okay.

He would wait to talk with Kevin. He still needed to process what he did.

Lewis would be fine too. Sebastian thought Lewis’s anger faded when he found out about Daniil being kicked from the team because he was visiting their little brother.

Next on Sebastian’s list was Charles.

After Kevin’s yelling yesterday Charles had told him about they all ignoring him.

Sebastian was mad at himself for that. He always wanted to protect his brothers, from anything harmful.

But now when he thought back during the latest month, he couldn’t even remember talking to Charles more than telling him what to do.

He went to the living room and found Charles playing some video game. Sebastian was so bad at it that he didn’t even tried to play.

But this was a different situation.

“Can I join you?” he asked.

Charles nodded and gave him a second controller.

And that was were he was for the next few hours. Playing games with Charles and a few other of his brothers who came and joined them.

Even though Sebastian could see that Charles was happy they cared about him, he could also tell how scared Charles was for Max.

Sebastian could see that fear in all of his brother’s eyes.

He wanted to know what was going on. The fact that id had been many hours and his dad hadn’t called them yet scared him.

All he wanted to do was to call his dad and ask, but he knew that his dad would call as soon as he could.

And then, after some time, his phone called.

He answered and asked his dad to tell him what was going on.

“Max has some injuries. Quite a few broken ribs, who punktured one of his lungs” his dad told him. Sebastian hoped that would be it but his dad continued.

“He also has a broken collarbone and some head trauma”

Sebastian couldn’t really answer to that. Those were a lot of big injuries.

“Is he going to be okay” he asked, hoping that the answer would be good.

“He’s going to have to say here for a few days, but he should be fine”

That was a relief. But one big thing was still on his mind.

“And can we take him back home?”

There was a quiet pause, which made Sebastian prepare for the worst.

“And then we can take him back home” his dad said.

A big smile formed on Sebastian’s face. That was great news. Not that Max was hurt. But that he could come back home.

He ended the call and went to tell the news to his brothers. Everyone had been relieved when they heard that Max would be fine. And the fact that they could take him home had been even better.

But Max would still be at the hospital for a few days, to make sure he was okay.

That was the thing that worried everyone. They just hoped he would be fine. Their dad had told them he would be, but you could never know.

Sebastian didn’t like to think of it that way. He thought about how they were halfway done with being a complete family again, something that they hadn’t been for way to long.

He wanted to know how long it would be before they could take George home too.

So, he had called Frankie to ask her about the situation.

“I’m sorry Sebastian, but that is classified information. I can’t just tell anyone about it” she had said.

Sebastian knew Frankie quite well. She would always help them with anything, especially in a difficult situation.

“But” she then said. “After Daniil’s visit, we will investigate it”

Sebastian thanked her and hung up the phone.

He knew that Daniil hadn’t been allowed to see George. Frankie must’ve covered for him so an investigation could be started.

He thanked her in his head. Who knew how long it could’ve taken before an investigation was started.

After a few days Max had finally come home. Sebastian had been shocked to see him. He had a sling on his arm, he looked really tired and he had a lot of bruises.

It reminded him of when Max came to them for the first time, but now it was even worse.

But Sebastian was just happy that Max was in the house. That was all that mattered right now.

He had been constantly worried for a month now. If everything went to the plan, he could finally relax.

But you never know what could happen.


	13. We will be okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentioned child neglect and child abuse
> 
> This it it!  
> Thank you so much for reading and showing your support. It makes me so happy.  
> Hope you enjoy the last chapter too!

It had been two weeks since Max finally had come back home. When he had woken up in the hospital and saw his dad he could have sworn it was a dream.

Because his life had been hell for the past month, and when his dad had told him the good news, it sounded too good to be true.

But it wasn’t. A few days later he had been able to go home.

The first days back home had been mixed into a big blur. He had been on pain medication and was sleeping most of the days.

Now two week after he got back home he was slowly starting to get better.

His ribs still hurt, so he was mainly staying still, either playing video games or reading.

But he didn’t care if he was in pain or not. He felt safe again. That was all that mattered.

Max could tell his dad and brothers were relieved he was back home. So was he.

Even though he was back, everyone was still painfully aware that George still wasn’t with them.

“Do you know how he’s doing?” he had asked Charles after they had finished playing a video game.

“Kevin said he wasn’t fine. But no one has told me why he isn’t” Charles answered.

Charles went back to looking at the screen, preparing a new game. But Max looked at him with worried eyes.

Something told him Charles wasn’t fine either. He had been quieter than usual and everyone else in the house looked like they were ashamed when Charles was around.

Max had no idea what he had missed during the last month. But it must’ve been something big.

He decided to let it go for now. Charles didn't seem like he wanted to discuss that right now.

That evening Max was alone with Valtteri in the living room. He thought that was a good time to ask a few questions.

"What has happened here when I was gone?" Max asked.

Valtteri seemed to think about it for a few seconds. Max had a clue what he was going to ask and decided to help him out.

"I know about dad canceling the trial" he said. "I recommended him to do it"

However, that only seemed to make Valtteri more confused.

After some time of silence, Max continued.

"I didn't know that we would be taken away from here. I thought it would be to hard for me, let alone for George"

Valtteri was still quiet for some time. Max let him think about it. It was a pretty huge thing to take in.

"Why didn't dad tell us that?" Valtteri then asked.

"Probably because he was the one who took the decision to cancel it. And because he didn't want you to be mad at me"

Valtteri seemed to be shocked at what Max just had said.

"Why would we be mad at you?" he asked.

"Because" Max said and then took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from crying. "Charles told me George wasn't fine. And that is my fault"

"No" Valtteri was quick to say. "That George is not fine is not your fault. It was a chain of events that went wrong. Your part of it shouldn’t have mattered"

Max slightly shook his head. He didn't really care what Valtteri told him. He would always feel guilty about this.

But Max needed to know something else too.

“What’s going on with Charles?”

Valtteri didn’t move when Max had asked the question. That made Max nervous. What had happened?

“Well” Valtteri began. “When you left, things were so weird that no one really spoke with him until a few days before you came back”

Max wanted to turn and look at Valtteri better. But the pain in his ribs stopped him.

“You didn’t talk to him for a month?” he said, trying to keep his composure.

He knew something had happened. But not something like this.

Max didn’t know what he had expected. But he knew he hadn’t expected to hear that ten people in a house had forgotten about a person living there.

He knew that things were difficult, trying to get him and George back. But at least his dad should’ve made sure all the kids were okay.

Now Max understood why everything was so tense in the house. He just hoped relationships in the house weren’t too broken.

But nothing was predictable here. Anything could happen.

And he got the proof for that a few days later.

His dad came and told them the thing that they all wanted to hear.

“We are getting George back”

For a few seconds it was completely quiet, everyone processing the information. His dad had not even hinted that the investigation was going well.

Max was in shock. A few of his brothers had the same reaction as him. It was something they all had been waiting for.

He couldn’t understand how hard it must’ve been for his brothers during this time. He had been focusing on getting back home too. But his brothers had to worry for two of them.

Max was thankful that they never gave up the hope though. Or maybe they had, but got it back when he came back. He didn’t care about that. He was just happy they had hope now.

Because their family would soon be complete again. Every piece right where they belonged.

The wait for George to get back was agonizing. Max wanted him back right away. He wanted to forget everything about this.

But George also had a few doctors appointments, to see exactly how healthy (or unhealthy) he was.

Valtteri had told him that George had been neglected and left alone. That didn’t make Max feel better.

Their dad had gone to pick George up from another town, and the wait for him to come back felt way longer than it actually was.

Max still felt guilty that George was neglected because of a decision he helped making.

Maybe Valtteri was right. Maybe all of this only had been a chain of bad events. Maybe everything would be fine again.

Maybe. Maybe not.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you :)


End file.
